What? How can I say such a harsh thing? Well it's true. And it's sad what passes as democracy nowadays and even sadder that kids believe it's been like this forever. It hasn't. We had real democracy when we played outside in the days before we were even old enough to vote. We practiced what we hoped it would be like to make fair decisions based on the majority. We knew that the majority was not always right, but if 5 friends wanted to play football and 6 wanted to play hockey, we played hockey. And the 5 football fans were not that disappointed because the alternative, that is the losing vote, was still pretty good even though they believed things would have been better the way they voted. Furthermore, we all liked hockey AND football so sometimes the footballers would win the vote. I don't know of any friends I had that would only vote for football or for hockey even when conditions were perfect for the other one. If Donny got a new net and Jerry got goalie equipment for Christmas, we'd probably play hockey. If the weather was rainy we'd likely play football because it's more fun to play in the rain than hockey.
Then we got older. Then we got Canadian politics and the vote. We got Canadian politicians. And suddenly democracy was shattered. Now it seems even if you WIN the vote you get shafted! And the alternative, that is the losing vote, is even crappier because we usually believe things would have been better the way we voted. Not MUCH better because we don't like the Liberal candidate OR the Conservative candidate, but at least sometimes our candidate won the vote. Let's be honest, in a system like this, the only folks who win are the candidates, because through your vote you have enabled their behaviour and affixed your stamp of approval to the broken system that gives their lives false meaning. If one of my childhood friends had the arrogance to say, "I am the one who will decide which sport we play every day from now on. Vote for me," my friends and I would have pummelled him into submission with our hockey sticks. And rightly so. A lesson in humility brought to you by letting your kids play outside unsupervised and use their own brains to work things out. And their hockey sticks, as it were...
So why do we accept this exact same thing now that we're older? Why do we think that it's not good for our small group of friends to have one person calling all the shots? Because there is a better chance of that person being a narcissistic asshole who wants to control us and take advantage of our support to get what he wants than that person being someone who truly cares about us and is much smarter than the rest of us and will ultimately do what is best for us all. And this is among FRIENDS! Kids!
How is it then that adults, who are generally more cautious having had the requisite burns life lays on all us trusting people, will settle for a vote for a total stranger every election year as their sole means of democratic exercise, (real or imagined), even though it usually, (or always), becomes just one more burn to knock a little more of the life and hope out of us? Just look at who we have driving the political bus in Canada now. Or should I say the political "omnibus?" I'm not going to go over the mess Stephen Harper has made of Canada in the 7 plus years he's been goin' all Kanye West on it, you can read past posts or Google something like, oh I don't know, "Why Harper should be shot." You may not think that, but why do you think that most of Canada's waters have been deprotected; that it's harder to get a job and harder to get relief if you lose one; that our vaunted Canadian healthcare system is a shadow of its former self; that we have more oil than Norway and their citizens are all sitting on million dollar pensions while we likely won't even get pensions; that environmentalists are screaming at us from the welfare line-ups; that green energy plans have been proven massively popular amongst Canadians yet are blocked; that B.C. water is sold to Nestle for $2.25 per million litres while the province needs that water to put out massive forest fires; that it costs 10 times what it used to for a university degree while in some countries they're free; that journalists are being silenced; that there are more oil spills than ever in Canada and fewer people who know how to clean them up; that Canadians are unable to take advantages of more and more priveleges offered to people from other countries; that Harper is such a hero in China he has food named for him; that a house in a major Canadian city costs a million bucks; that Canada is the most sued nation under free trade agreements for oil, water etc.; that the workplace has become young kids in front of computers wearing headphones and mics Skyping each other in orgies of mutual cybercirclejerks and getting promoted while the real workers get the real work done in real life and real time; that if you make half a million a year you shouldn't pay taxes and if you make a mil., you don't; that our entire country has become a corporation; that you need a certificate to get a certificate to get certified to do anything; that our own spoken word poet, Shane Koyczan, refused to read his "hooray-for-us" poem called "We Are More" on Canada Day? Why? Because we are LESS! Maybe this ALL can't be blamed on Harper and his government, but this is what he meant when he said, "You won't recognize Canada when I'm through with it." But with the typical positivity at election time that makes fools of us all every four years or so, (four times in seven years in Harper's case), people thought he meant he was going to make things better for Canadians, not rich foreigners.
Here's a scary thought: a politician was once asked how much the average person knows about what really goes on in government. His reply was about 1%. Then he was asked how much he knew about it. His reply was about 2%. So the awful things that we know have happened during Harper's reign of terror, may only be the tip of the iceberg! There may be a lot more political doo doo to clean up for whoever replaces Harper than we, or even they know about. And then you see something like this:
I suppose the signs are upon us. It's election time once again in Canada. And people are getting election fever. That wave of foolish positivity that washes over the nation at election time and makes us say and think things like, "THIS time it will be different!" Why do we do this? It boggles the mind! I guess it's just one of those things we do. Like banking. Getting married. Paying outrageous prices for cable. Having kids. School. Work. Having a lawn. Just things we do. Not necessarily good or smart things... just things we do.
And then there are things we say. Like if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about government. Rock the vote. Or this gem being waved around by this guy in the pic. Who is he anyway? Probably just some dude trying to get laid. There, I said it. But at this time of year one of the things happens that makes a mockery of democracy, and this sign puts a fine point on it. That thing could be called "tribal mentality" or "populism," numbers 9 and 8 on this list. Now don't get me wrong! I already told you, I love democracy. I miss it really. But there are weaknesses in the way it is practiced in democratic countries around the world. The biggest weakness: people. Politics involves trillions and trillions of dollars and untold power. Expose a less than saintly person to that and he/she becomes part of the problem and not part of the solution. The biggest problem I see in politics is that it needs to be made less attractive to the people who are attracted to it. People who love money. Well, that may be an understatement. People who lust after money. People who roll around naked in money. People who would love to have money instead of hair growing out of their heads. You get the idea. Let's see, is Harper one of these people? He once called the Kyoto Protocol, "A socialist scheme designed to suck money out of rich countries." It's said with the assumption that we all believe, as he clearly does, that thinking about society, (socialism), is an inferior philosophy to thinking about money, (capitalism).
Then voters, because they are fragile, weak, flawed human beings, take these insanely greedy people, usually two or three of them, and vote for one. "Vote," like they would vote for their country in something like, oh, let's say a meaningless game of women's soccer. Do Americans like soccer? No! Do they like WOMEN'S soccer? HELL no! But wrap the players in stars and stripes and somehow attach some patriotism to it and between 20 and 25 million of them will watch it on TV hating the other side and loving these girls they've never heard of before. Just over 7 million watched the Stanley Cup finals! Why? Not NATIONAL teams playing. Wonder how many American guys had the investment of 40 bucks in a U.S. women's soccer jersey pay off when a cute girl in a bar joined them in celebration of the win. Folks, don't judge me. Millions of men everywhere think this way. Don't shoot the messenger. And don't assume this guy went to the trouble of making that sign JUST because he may believe it.
At any rate, let's get back to the message on the sign. It erroneously assumes that there are other candidates who would not only do things differently than the bad politicians that get elected, but that they'd do things BETTER than the bad politicians who get elected. Well let's use the baddest of the bad. Does anyone even remember who Harper ran against last election? Does it even matter? My position is no on that one. For all we know that other guy DID win. The election was fraudulent. Harper cheated! Should there be a royal commission on electoral reform and party financing? Sure should! Did Harper de-fund the office that could make that happen? Sure did! Was he found guilty in a court of law? Sure was! Was he removed from government or stripped of his office? Sure wasn't? Somewhere Ben Johnson is going, "What de fuck mon?" Well apparently, yes, Harper cheated, but it didn't affect the outcome. Maybe Ben Johnson being roided up didn't affect the outcome of the 1988 100 m. final or his 9.79 world record. But the Olympics are more fair than Elections Canada I guess. More olympian. And how many of you would even TRY the argument with your partner, "Yeah, sure, I cheated, but it didn't mean anything, honey, I didn't love her/him," if you were caught cheating? Not only was he convicted of cheating, but he has repeatedly done things in secret, often while in China, that he KNOWS the Canadian public doesn't like. That is, he has done undemocratic things. He was found to be in contempt of parliament for crying out loud! A 156-145 vote of no confidence for failing to disclose the full financial details of his tougher crime legislation, corporate tax cuts and plans to purchase stealth fighter jets is what lead to the election he proceeded to win through cheating. And he has continued to thumb his nose at Canadians and do whatever the hell he wants, (which is usually whatever we DON'T want), while in office.
Not long before that another cheater won the presidency of the United States. And what a presidency! Harper is doing his best to top the disaster George Dubyuh wreaked on America. And what is happening is people are noticing that now you don't even have to WIN the leadership of Canada or the U.S. As long as you get in, you're fine. This attracts even more of the worst possible people for the jobs. So, no, sign holder, no, the non-votes of good people DON'T elect bad people to office. Cheating does. And this makes for governments that do almost everything the people DON'T want. This is the absolute opposite of democracy.
And now, Harper is actually running AGAIN!!! And here's an article that describes how he actually might WIN again!!! What are his tactics? 1. Research on small groups of voters that could be persuaded to vote Conservative. Not the kind of research you or I can do, the research you need heightened policing tactics to perform. Kinda like spying and snooping. Hence, C-51. So in order to get that he will have to convince the Canadian public of the ludicrous assertion that Canada's terrorist attack possibilities are at threat level red. The fact is there may be a few more people who dislike Canada but only because of recent acts of the Harper government to strengthen our international anti-terror stance. So that's 2. Convince Canadians to never not be afraid. Of terrorists. Who all have relatives living in Canada. Possibly training in Canada. Come on! 3. One of the groups of people who CAN be convinced to vote for this douchebag is the newcomers to Canada group. There are unbelievable advantages being given to foreigners, (and paid for by Canadian people). Investments, as I have pointed out before, for foreigners are sometimes half as expensive and completely tax free! I have to pay 10% to buy a condo in Vancouver. Foreigners pay 5%. If its value goes up I pay 70% capital gains tax. Foreigners pay zilch. There are investments, not just in Hongcouver, all over Canada from which Canadian citizens are excluded! The majority of the foreigners to whom Harper is catering are, you guessed it, Chinese. This is why I call Harper's Canada, "Chinada." And 4. The Conservative party have perfected mud slinging. Easy to do if your opponents provide you with mud to sling.
What needs to be done is pretty simple. Back at the beginning I talked about real democracy. The kids in my neighbourhood weren't voting for people, we were voting for ideas: hockey or football. The time has come. We have the technology. Let's vote for ideas. The only people who say it's economically and logstically unfeasable are the overpaid liars whose jobs will be eliminated and whose power and riches will thereby be lost.
Or at the very least we need to make politics less attractive to the scumbags that are attracted to it by removing or at least limiting the corruption. If anything it's getting worse and so are the candidates. This is a view of politics that is becoming more and more attractive to me. If voting changed anything it would be illegal. I don't side with old Churchill in believing that our system of democratic government is the worst there is, except for all others. I think there are better ways to do things. Me with my crazy optimism again!
So good luck, Canada on the election. I will be withholding my vote because I don't support the platforms of any candidate, nor do I think any candidate will stick to their platforms. And I will continue to complain about the government of my country BECAUSE I didn't enable the election thereof. I wish the whole country would wake up and see things the way they really are instead of the 1% we may or may not know.
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